Weekend Book Review: The Only Thing Worth Dying For by Eric Blehm

This is the story of a US Special Forces team called ODA 574 and their mission in sourthern Afghanistan in the early days of the US invasion after September 11th. The author interviewed the survivors of the team, other military servicemembers who interacted with the team and also poured over official government documents. Most amazing of all is the fact that the author got to interview Hamid Karzai himself, the president of Afghanistan whom at that time was little known. This is the story of the tip of the spear of the US military bringing the war to the very home of the Taliban in Southern Afghanistan.

The author is to be commended for doing a good job interviewing the servicemembers and for being able to get their side of the story told. As a veteran of the regular military I appreciated this book’s insight into the fact that even among Special Forces you still have regular Army politics and also difficulties among different soldiers’ personalities. The book didn’t hold back at rather embarrassing moments of soldiers. But at the same time the book didn’t have a feel that it’s out to slander particular service members. As a reader I appreciated the difficult roles these guys played in the war in Afghanistan especially with the Captain in charge of ODA 574, a man name Jason Amerine. In fact I think all readers will appreciate his maturity, foresight and his wisdom in making difficult decision at such a young age. Karzai is right to have said he wished there were more Americans like Captain Amerine. The book’s honestly also portrayed the difficulties of higher ups intruding and micromanaging. Eventually in the book you will find that it led to a serious and deadly disaster (I don’t want to give the book away).

If it is not obvious already I want to make it clear that I enjoyed the book especially as insights into the hearts and mind of fighting Americans. The author is also to be commended for breaking down Army and Special Forces lingo and how units work to the general reader. If there is one constructive criticism I would have of the book is that the first half of the book spent too long with ODA 574’s workup to go to war with all the hurry up and wait.

He’s served 15 years and will stay 5 more to get his retirement. He’s now an instructor at Sheppard AFB in Texas, which we’re very happy about, no more deployments to the Middle East. Thanks for asking!